1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of luggage and traveling cases, and more particularly, to a compact garment bag.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist a plethora of carrying cases designed for business travelers. They vary greatly in function, weight, size and choice of material. One such example is a garment bag, a relatively lightweight and soft carrying case designed for short business trips where the traveler typically packs along one or more business suits. While garment bags have thus become the carrying case of choice for short business trips, they are generally ill suited to the demands of most business travelers for several reasons.
First, today""s garment bags are often too large to be carried aboard commercial aircraft. Commercial airlines require that carry-on baggage must be no larger than 55 cmxc3x9735 cmxc3x9725 cm (or approximately 22 inxc3x9714 inxc3x979 in). Nevertheless, in an effort to eliminate the extra time required to check-in and subsequently retrieving checked-in baggage (and to a lesser extent, to eliminate the chance that checked-in baggage will be damaged and/or lost), many business travelers attempt to bring their garment bags onboard commercial aircraft as carry-on baggage. They are often frustrated to discover, however, that their garment bags cannot fit within the aircraft""s overhead compartment and that the flight attendant will end up checking in the bag.
Second, many of today""s garment bags are not freestanding. This shortcoming is evident to those business travelers who opt to check-in their garment bag. This is because causes these travelers must repeatedly reach down to pick up garment bags that have flopped over as they inch forward in the check-in line. At best, this repeated motion merely causes an added inconvenience. At worst, the traveler risks muscle strain and/or serious back injury. While this problem can be addressed by a rigid, internal structure, it is modern luggage designers have been unable to design a garment bag that is freestanding when fully packed without such internal supports.
Third, unless care is taken, clothes packed in today""s garment bags can become so wrinkled that they inevitably require re-pressing upon arrival. While the wrinkling and crumpling of clothes is not unique to garment bags, the added time and expense required to re-press clothes upon arrival poses an additional inconvenience for today""s harried business travelers.
What is needed is a soft case, compact garment bag that is freestanding when fully packed, that prevents and/or minimizes any wrinkling of the contents and, that easily fits within existing commercial aircraft overhead compartments.
The invention, roughly described, comprises a compact garment bag capable of being stored within the overhead compartment of commercial aircraft. The garment bag of the present invention comprises a removable suit folder apparatus for hanging at least one suit and an enclosure for receiving the apparatus wherein a first edge of the suit folder apparatus is used to initiate a first fold of the enclosure (and the suit within the enclosure) and a second edge of the suit folder apparatus is used to initiate a second fold of the enclosure. The first and second folds of the enclosure are both folded in a single direction towards a bottom portion of the enclosure. The suit folder apparatus comprises two horizontal slits each capable of receiving one or more pairs of slacks. A top portion of the suit folder apparatus comprises a sleeve into which a hanger mechanism can be inserted. The garment bag of the present invention further comprises a compartment for receiving the twice-folded enclosure. The compartment comprises a flap and at least one fastening means for securing the enclosure within the compartment.
In one aspect, the hanger mechanism and the suit folder apparatus are integrated into a single, contiguous device. In another aspect, the suit folder apparatus is constructed from a dimensionally stable and semi-deformable fabric. In another aspect, the suit folder apparatus is constructed from a rigid material.